


greek life not for me

by jswoon2



Series: greek life [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Alternate Universe - Not Hockey Player(s), F/M, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 01:25:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11475690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jswoon2/pseuds/jswoon2
Summary: Sidney can’t help but be curious and look. He recognizes the male next to him as the student who sits in the very back row every lecture. Usually, when class lets out, he’s relaxed with his head propped up by his palm, sleeping.Sidney smiles shyly, ready to refocus on his notes but the male pops open a can of Red Bull and pours it into a travel mug smelling of coffee and says to Sidney, “I’m a little bit die now,” before chugging the entire mixture.





	greek life not for me

The first week an eight am class seems like a refreshing idea. Sidney is the most productive out of all his friends, especially out of his roommates. Still, he has to be thankful. Flower has been feeding him roommate horror stories for two years now. He’d been half expecting a nightmare as a roommate but Jack isn’t bad. Jack keeps to his side of the room, stays up way past Sidney’s bedtime but always turns off the lights if Sidney is getting ready to sleep, and so far doesn’t seem like the type to try and throw a party in their small room.

Jack also seems like the laziest person Sidney has ever met. 

When Jack is desperately throwing on the first set of clothes he can find for a two thirty pm lecture, Sidney is coming back from the gym. His textbook reading for Monday is on schedule and he has just enough time to shower and indulge himself in dessert from the dining hall with enough time to spare before his next class. The freshman fifteen is nowhere near his plans in his first year at college but the cookies call to him.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays he makes up the sleep he could be getting in the morning by taking afternoon classes only. He gets up at ten so he can still go to breakfast, the gym, and shower before class. Jack still calls him crazy but since Jack sleeps like the dead, Sidney is pretty sure his roommate has never seen what the world looks like before noon.

A week into college and Sidney is pretty sure he’s got everything together. His parents worried about him for no reason at all.

At the second week, the allure is a bit worn but walking to an eight am lecture is strangely calming. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning the intramural track team runs alongside Sidney on his way to Russian Lit. There’s nobody walking slowly on the sidewalk and the morning air is always cool. 

Week three on Wednesday, Sidney hits the snooze button on his alarm and falls asleep again on accident. He goes to class wearing the sweatpants he wore to bed but makes it to class on time, which is all that really matters. To make things worse, when Sidney returns to his dorm after class, there are two guys in his room meticulously placing solo cups filled to the brim with water on the floor.

Jack is missing from his usual lump in the bed.

“Can I help you?” he asks, because really, this isn’t what he needs today. He refuses to let Jack know he’s breaking.

The strangers look at Sidney like two deer caught in the headlights, both looking at each other in a silent plea for the other to answer Sidney’s question. They both are dressed in cargo shorts with way too many pockets than necessary and baseball caps worn backwards. Their shirts both read  _ Rush Rho Epsilon _ with different years written on them.

“Is this—are you serious?” Sidney glares at the familiar fraternity name. “Did Flower send you? I told him I wasn’t interesting in rushing.”

“What?” one of them asks.

Sidney tries his best to look assertive. He’s not short by any means but these two are easily six feet tall which makes Sidney’s glaring a bit less threatening when he’s looking up at them. Though he does go to the gym six days a week so looking at so it’s possible that he might weigh—

“We have a guy named Flower?” the other asks his friend.

“Maybe he’s a new pledge,”

Eyeing Sidney, the guy shoves his hands into his pocket, pulling out a beaten up sheet of paper. “Nah, this guy’s name is Jack Johnson.”

_ Jack _ , Sidney thinks, leaning against the doorframe with a sigh.  _ Of course _ . 

They never really get to introductions since Jack comes running down the hall drenched head to toe, looking frazzled with a bucket and sponge in his hands. He barely acknowledges Sidney before pushing past into the room, knocking over some of water cups in haste.

“I finished washing you car, Chris!” Jack looks down at the wetness around his feet and says, “Seriously, man, pledge on pledge pranking?”

Chris shrugs. “All pledges are fair game.”

“The other plan was to cover you with shaving cream while you slept,” the pledge says, hands up in defense. “I saved you, man.”

“The floor is all wet! And I cleaned Chris’s car, which was already clean when I got there!” Jack argues.

“Yeah,” Chris laughs. “Another pledge cleaned it yesterday. Did a real nice job, didn’t he?”

Sidney backs out of the room and nobody notices.

 

[  **ΡEN** ]

 

Flower —the frat apparently calls him  _ Marc _ or  _ Fleury _ apparently—promises Sidney there won’t be any strange surprises in his room while Jack is rushing with the Rho Eps.

“We don’t really use hockey nicknames,” Flower tries to explain. “Not everyone is hockey crazy, Sidney.”

“Oh my god,” Sidney says overdramatically, “you’re a football fan now. You know that Roc the Panther looks insane. And it looks like a Florida panther. We live in Pittsburgh. It’s insulting. This is insulting. College changed you.”

“Uh huh,” Flower eyes Sidney suspiciously, leaning back in his chair as he takes in Sidney’s appearance. “You okay?”

Sidney pauses to think. 

“My eight am is stressing me out.”

Comforting and condescending at the same time, Flower pats Sidney on the shoulder. “We’ve all taken one of those in our first semester. I’ll pray for you.”

 

[ **PEN** ]

 

It takes a month of his eight am class to realize why people skip class. The lecture hall, which can hold two hundred people at capacity, barely has one hundred students in attendance. It makes it even more obvious when Sidney can feel himself start to doze off or start to daydream. Professor Gonchar doesn’t particularly seem to care, as he barely bats an eye when he sees his students sporadically seated in the lecture hall.

On Thursday Gonchar sends out an email reminding the class about the quiz they’ll be having tomorrow. For once, Sidney sees students that he hadn’t seen from day one of class as they wait outside the classroom to let the six thirty class get out. 

(Sidney is pretty sure that those people are  _ insane _ . He’d rather let Flower tease him for the rest of his life than take a class that’s even earlier than the one he’s starting to hate.)

Once the class before them lets out, it’s a zombie shuffle into the hall.

Sidney sits in exactly the eighth row down from the back of the hall, seven seats into the row. It’s perfectly in the middle of the row where he can easily participate and see the lecture notes on the projector. Usually the closest someone sits near him is three rows behind, three seats to his left. Almost always the guy comes in late and Sidney has never seen him take out a notebook or laptop. 

He has his notes open in front of him to review when someone literally drops himself into the seat next to Sidney. The whole row shakes. Sidney can’t help but be curious and look. He recognizes the male next to him as the student who sits in the very back row every lecture. Usually, when class lets out, he’s relaxed with his head propped up by his palm, sleeping.

Sidney smiles shyly, ready to refocus on his notes but the male pops open a can of Red Bull and pours it into a travel mug smelling of coffee and says to Sidney, “I’m a little bit die now,” before chugging the entire mixture. He gives Sidney a mock salute and immediately as he sets his head down onto the cool table. 

“Will he be okay?” Sidney asks the student sitting on the other side of the sleeping male.

The girl shrugs. “I heard if someone in your lecture hall dies during class everyone gets A’s for the rest of the year. Awesome, right?”

“But someone just died in class,” Sidney replies in disbelief.

“And then everyone gets A’s,” she reiterates as if Sidney doesn’t understand.

Sidney debates saying something back but it’s ten to eight which is way too early to argue with someone. 

Despite his mother’s encouragement, he doubts he’ll be making too many friends from this class.

 

[  **PEN** ]

 

The Rho Ep house is huge. Two stories with a basement and an attic.

Sidney had suggested he and Flower study in the library but Flower insisted that they do it at the frat house. Most of the brothers would be in class and pledges rarely come to the house unless it’s for a rush event or a brother brings them so rest assured, Sidney will be able to study in peace and quiet he needs to do homework.

“So,” Sidney says, looking around the big kitchen currently cluttered with empty beer bottles and spray paint cans. “What’s so important that we couldn’t go to the library?”

Flower grins. “I’m so glad you asked. Wait here,” he says, holding up a finger as he backs out of the kitchen. His shoes on the hardwood floor tell Sidney whatever he’s going to retrieve, he’s running. He returns with a binder, which he drops on top of Sidney’s biology textbook where he had been labeling the muscles in the human body. “It’s official. The Rho Eps are going to lavalier Vero.”

“That sounds really gross.” Sidney opens the binder even though he’s sure he won’t understand half the frat jargon in it. “What is it?”

“It’s honorary membership into the fraternity. Meaning, Vero can wear the Rho fraternity letters.” Excitedly, Flower sits down across from Sidney. “I want to propose but my parents would kill me if I did. I already have enough student loans, I don’t need to take any more out for a ring right now. And Vero wants to go to grad school so we aren’t ready to get married yet. Figured this would be a good first step.”

Sidney nods in understanding. “So, you’re going to lava _ something _ your girlfriend into the frat.”

“ _ Lavalier _ . And yes. I already have Geno’s approval,” Flower says.

“Who’s Geno?” Sidney asks, though he’s already back to highlighting his diagram.

“He’s the chapter president. He’s all in for the idea. We’ll do it next week before we initiate the pledges.” Flower grins, which tells Sidney that somehow he’ll be dragged into this.

“I’m not a member of your frat.” 

That doesn’t change anything. Flower looks more pleased, even. “I know,  _ but _ the Rho Eps and I would love to have new pictures for the Facebook page and a little birdy told me that Mario gave you a brand new, fancy ass camera for your graduation. So how about it?”

“It’s a new hobby I’m trying out,” Sidney argues, though he concedes. “But I’ll do it.”

 

[  **PEN** ]

 

Jack is sitting at Sidney’s desk, cheeto powder all over Sidney’s desk calendar when Sidney returns from his meeting with Flower. Usually he’s in class by now but it seems like he’s skipping today.

“Hey, Sid,” Jack says, eerily smiling at Sidney.

“You want something,” Sidney accuses.

“Can’t a roomie make casual conversation without being attacked?” Jack asks, holding his hand against his chest, feigning offense. He’s getting orange dust all over. Sidney sighs. “Okay, fine. Chris asked if we had a guy named Flower in our frat and Fleury said that  _ he’s _ Flower and you’re the one who gave him that nickname.”

Sidney can’t deny that but, “You know Fleury is just French for flower, right?”

“Not the point,” Jack shakes his head. “Point is that you know Fleury  _ vice president _ of the Rho Eps, who knows Geno, the president. You can get me into the Rho Eps!”

“I don’t think me knowing Flower can get you into the frat.” Sidney replies, wincing when Jack groans in defeat. “But, Flower and I are going to meet up tomorrow to discuss the initiation event plans this weekend. I can invite him here to do it.”

Instantly, Jack lights up. Jumping up from his chair, he grabs Sidney by both cheek. He grimaces at the gross oily feeling. “You’re the best roommate I’ve ever had. I love you, man.”

“I’m the only roommate you’ve ever had,” Sidney replies.

Jack holds Sidney’s face tighter, until his facial expression matches that of a fish. “Don’t forget about hockey camp. Four years in a row. Nathan MacKinnon was the messiest bastard I’ve ever roomed with but his mom sent the best care packages. I’m talking all the name brand snacks a boy could ask for.”

 

[  **PEN** ]

 

Event planning goes as smoothly as it can go with the president of the fraternity missing and Jack hanging onto Flower’s every word like it’s going to be his last. For the most part, Flower wants everything to be like last year’s initiation. Tradition is tradition and more importantly, Flower knows Geno would rather give up and arm and a leg before he memorizes another speech. They’ve been recycling the same speech for two years now. A third won’t make that much of a difference.

“He’s from Russia. Came over when he was a senior in high school. His English isn’t bad but he hates speeches.” Flower explains, shrugging. “They’re not his forte.”

“Speeches are the worst.” Jack chimes in from the other side of the room. He’s wearing his headphones even though no music is playing. Sidney knows. Jack can’t hear anything when he plays music with headphones.

Flower scratches his chin, looking at Sidney’s roommate. “Are you eavesdropping on us?”

“What? Me? No, pssh of course not. I’m the best roommate ever. Right, Sid?” Jack stutters, talking with his hands wildly.

Sidney tries not to laugh, flexing his legs. (He let Flower take his desk so he’s stuck sitting on his bed with his laptop nearly burning his lap.) “Yeah, Jack is cool.” He tells Flower, who doesn’t try to mask his amusement. Then, to Jack, “How’s your English homework coming?”

“Great, awesome. I get A’s for days,” Jack laughs nervously. Clearing his throat, he snaps his textbook shut, shoves it and his notebook into his backpack. “I’m just going to let you guys chill. Catch you at the Market later, Sid?”

“Later, Jack,” Sidney waves. He flicks his highlighter cap at Flower when the older male snorts.

Flower waits until Jack closes the room’s door to give Sidney a look. “Buttering his way into the frat won’t work. It’s a nice try though. He has initiative.”

“He just really wants in for some reason,” Sidney says. 

“Can you blame him? Mike Sullivan is a big sponsor of our chapter. Just because you’re not interested doesn’t mean other people are going to think the same.” Flower raises his hands, moving them like weights on a scale.

They both fall into silence, just the sound of them clicking away at their keyboards. 

It’s six thirty when Flower decides it’s time to leave. He has most of his things packed up when his phone chimes. He reads the message seriously before turning to Sidney. “So, quick question. Good idea or bad idea: serenading Vero in the Union tomorrow.”

“Terrible idea,” Sidney says, shaking his head. “Do a single red rose and don’t kneel. People will think you’re proposing. Maybe read her a poem?”

“Fantastic,” Flower says in a way that means quite the opposite. “I gotta tell Geno to cancel those doves.” Frantically, he taps away at his phone, sparing Sidney one last glance as he makes his way for the door. “I’m meeting Vero at three. You’ll be there, right?”

“I’ll be there at a quarter till with my camera ready,” Sidney reassures.

“You’re the best, Sid!” Flower waves over his shoulder, his phone on dial. “Geno, animals are a no go and the singing—”

Sidney slides off his bed, takes one look at his packed calendar and sighs. Considering he’s not even rushing for Rho Epsilon, the next two weeks on his calendar are full of their events. 

He couldn’t have even told Flower ‘no’ if he tried.

 

[  **PEN** ]

 

Monday morning his lecture, as per usual, is mostly empty. There is a few people missing but Sidney tries not to linger over that for too long. He doesn’t have many friends from his Russian Literature class. Mostly everyone keeps to themselves all scattered about the classroom. Sidney distinctly tries not to think about the young man who downed the Red Bull and coffee concoction. 

The guy didn’t really die. He definitely passed out into a light sleep right up until the quiz was passed out. The girl sitting on his other side made no move to wake him up. It would’ve made Sidney upset if someone let him set through a quiz so he nudged the guy awake as gently as possible. He got the most lopsided, half-asleep smile ever and Sidney would be lying if he said it didn’t make him blush a little bit. 

The guy said something to Sidney in warm garbled Russian. A thank you, probably. Then spent the rest of his time looking back and forth between his quiz and scantron.

He also finished the quiz almost twenty minutes earlier than everyone else. When Sidney finally finished, the guy was nowhere to be seen. Sidney had hoped, for a brief second, that maybe the guy would be lingering outside, getting some much needed sleep eye on one of the chairs lined in the hall outside. Only a student watching Netflix was sitting outside.

After that, Sidney only gets quick glances of the other male. Sometimes, just as Sidney walks past the back row, he’ll wake up. They’ll make quick eye contact, exchange small smiles. But never names. Gonchar only gives out three exams in a term and it can’t come quick enough if it means sitting next to each other. Sidney has plans.

He’ll introduce himself first. Then, he’ll bring up their test as casual conversation and if things go really well, he’ll suggest that next time they study together. Ideally, they’ll exchange phone numbers but Sidney will settle for exchanging school affiliated emails at first.

It’s the perfect plan. Maybe, not as perfect as Flower and Vero being high school sweethearts but that’s fine by Sidney. The 8 Step Plan to Woo his mysterious classmate is almost entirely typed up in neat Garamond—the only proper font no matter what Flower says—when Sidney’s said friend comes to sit across from him, looking frazzled.

“You’re nervous,” Sidney observes. “Don’t be. You know Vero will say yes.”

“You really think so?” Flower asks, running his fingers through his hair, flattening out his tie. “Should I have gotten more dressed up? Maybe I should’ve grabbed my jacket. It’s not too late I can call Geno and tell him to bring it.”

Sidney shakes his head. “You look fine. That’s a nice shirt.”

Flower checks his watch, standing up to now flatten out his pants. They look like they’ve been ironed, something Sidney knows Flower hasn’t attempted since the graduation incident. “Thanks. Vero says it brings out the color in my eyes. How do my eyes look?”

“Radiant,” Sidney says a bit sarcastically. “You’ll be fine.”

“Do you think we should’ve done this at the house?” Flower asks, checking his watch again. “No, the house is a mess. Here is better.”

At almost three o’clock, Sidney starts to pack his things up from the table. He starts to prep for pictures, wanting to find the best lighting now rather than later. For as long as he’s known Flower, he’s also known Vero and Vero is a right on time person. Not late or early, just right on the dot.

Sidney snaps a few pictures of Flower still fidgeting with his watch, picking up and setting down the rose, unsure how he should present himself when his girlfriend comes. He settles on an angle that will most likely put both Flower and Vero in a slight off center position but will have a banner the frat made in the background.

As someone rounds the corner, Flower jumps up from where he had seated himself, though his leg had been jiggling so much Sidney was afraid he’d take off. Instinctively, Sidney takes a burst of photos, stunning their visitor with the camera’s flash.

(He should’ve remembered to turn it off but.)

“Damn it, Geno, I thought you were Vero.” Flower says, smacking the taller man on the shoulder, unnoticing the stupefied expression on their faces. He sighs. “Geno, this is Sidney. We met in high school. Sidney, this is Geno.”

Geno holds his hand out to shake, looking more awake than Sidney has ever seen him. “We meet already. You take eight am with Gonchar.”

Sidney takes the other man’s hand, hopes his hands aren’t nearly as clamming as they feel. “That’s me.”

“Nice to finally have pretty name to match pretty face.” Geno says, smiling full of teeth.

Instantly, Sidney feels his cheeks heat up. Their handshake is more like holding hands at this point. Geno lets his thumb brush over Sidney’s knuckles before letting go. Blatant flirting seems to not faze Geno much as opposed to Sidney, who could walk into a freezer and still feel warm all over.

The guy’s name is Geno. Geno is the frat president. Geno is tall and fit— _ hockey _ kind of fit. His name is Geno, Sidney has class with him and—

“Vero is coming! Vero is coming!” Chris shouts as he makes way to warn Flower. 

Sidney clears his throat, suppressing the blush as much as he can. Flower gives himself one last opportunity to hype himself up. Chris opens his backpack to pull out an old portable CD player. And Geno. Geno is standing behind Sidney, a thing that Sidney tries to convince himself does not make him nervous.

“I heard you, Chris,” Vero says, pretending to be disappointed.

The song ‘Kiss from a Rose’ starts to play, which is all the cue Sidney needs to start taking photos.

 

[ **PEN** ]

 

Sidney is eating at his usual table in the Market when he notices someone standing next to him out of the corner of his eye. The first person to come to mind is Jack. They both have the meal plan and Jack refuses to eat alone. Only, when he looks up it’s not Jack, it’s Geno, wearing Pittsburgh sweatshirt that looks like the collar has been gnawed off.

“Want to sit?” Sidney offers, trying to ignore how Geno’s sweatpants seem to cling to his body.

Geno beams. He sets down his two plates of food filled to capacity and sits down. “I’m think you never ask.” He laughs, knocking his knees against Sidney’s from underneath the table. Sidney thinks it could be on purpose, but it’s hard to tell. Geno is just so tall. “Fleury say you know each other for long time.”

Delaying his response, Sidney pushes his string beans into his mashed potatoes. The more of his dinner he eats, the more weight he can feel himself gaining. “Uh, yeah. I transferred to his school when he was a junior. We were on the hockey team together.”

Through a mouthful of pizza, Geno says, “Oh, Fleury plays best hockey. After me, of course.”

Clearly, Geno is not following Sidney’s 8 Step Plan. Exchanging personal matters not related to coursework is supposed to be Step 2, Section 5. Hanging out in public is part of Step 3. Geno is just blowing through the steps—not in the way Sidney imagined though.

(Sexy times are reserved for Steps 7 and 8.)

Sidney thinks about telling Geno about the binder with his 8 Step Plan but it’s become obvious now that his mashed potatoes look like a mess and he’s clearly been staring at Geno without replying for too long now.

“So you think you’re real good, huh?” Sidney jokes, looking down to hide the slight blush.

“Of course,” Geno pretends to take offense. “Best hockey come from Russia.”

Two hours later Sidney goes back to his dorm to find everyone evacuated outside. A student on the third floor tried to microwave a hot pocket on a paper plate. Sidney can’t be mad though. Geno said,  _ See you in class, Sid _ .

Now Wednesday can’t come quick enough. In Anatomy on Tuesday, Sidney spent most of his time rearranging his 8 Steps. Now that he knows Geno and how fast the guy seems to progress things, Sidney supposes he could consolidate a few steps but the girl next to him started to get considerably nosy so he had no choice but to start paying attention in class.

Sidney is one of the first people to trickle into the classroom. He tries not to look at the clock too much.

Gonchar comes in a few minutes before class is supposed to start, speaking in hushed Russian. Sidney tries to give him privacy with whoever he’s speaking with but Gonchar is walking in the row in front of where Sidney sits to continue the conversation. In Russian, Geno speaks smoothly, much faster than his calculated English.

It’s then that Sidney realizes Geno’s shirt says in bold white letters: ‘Looking 4 a Memorable One Night Stand’.

It stings a little when Sidney reads it.

He flirts back hesitantly when Geno hits on him, constantly nudging Sidney with his feet with his laptop tilted Sidney’s way to show him yet another meme he finds hilarious. If Gonchar sees any of it, he doesn’t seem to care. He’s much too absorbed into reading a passage from his favorite Russian literature piece in its original text.

At the end of class Sidney gives Geno the best—still his worst—excuse possible as to why he  _ can’t _ give Geno his phone number and makes off for a quick escape. Gonchar announced Friday’s class is already canceled which should give Sidney just enough time to get over his disappointment.

It’s great. Things are great.

(Not really. He already has a whole night of cheating on his diet planned out in his head. With a little bit of convincing, maybe he and Jack can make it into a roommate event.)

Eight steps would have taken too long anyway.

 

[  **PEN** ]

 

Flower notices something is wrong immediately. He gives Sidney ten minutes of silence, just staring blankly at a statistics problem that makes no sense to Sidney  _ anyway _ before he says something.

“Something on your mind, Squid?”

Sidney distinctly ignores his 8 Steps file open in the background. He should delete it or at least rededicate it to someone who preferably doesn’t openly advertise they sleep around. Instead, Sidney says, “Nothing, really.”

“Really? That’s strange, ‘cause Geno said you were acting pretty weird yesterday.” Flower never pries when Sidney doesn’t want to talk about his private life, only this time is different. Geno and Sidney are both his friends. “I heard you guys had dinner together. Geno made things sound like you guys were starting to be friends.”

“We can still be friends,” Sidney says defensively.

“Did something happen?” 

Nothing happened, maybe that’s the problem. “Nothing happened,” he confesses.

Flower makes a small noise of understanding. “But you want something to happen.”

“I’m not interested in someone who sleeps around.” Sidney says as matter of fact. He gets that Flower is friends with Geno, but Flower must know after two years of being in the frat together that Geno likes to take people back home with him for the night. Given Flower’s expression, he doesn’t seem to be connecting the dots like Sidney did. “Geno owns a shirt that says he’s looking for a one night stand. We’re not interested in the same thing. It’s fine.”

“What an idiot,” Flower groans, throwing his head back. He holds his finger up in Sidney’s face as he snaps his laptop shut and grabs his backpack. “Alright, no problem, he won’t own it for much longer. You planning on hanging around here longer?”

Sidney sighs, looking down at his half-finished statistics. “Probably.”

“Awesome. Remember to make me best man at the wedding and we’ll call this even,” Flower says, bumping into a girl as he walks backwards. “Give me a half hour!” 

A table over shoots Sidney a look as if he’s the one talking at full volume in the library. He’s sure that Flower is off to meddle somehow. For his own wellbeing, Sidney can only hope it won’t backfire.

The half hour passes, Sidney finishes his statistics and he leaves the library alone.

 

[  **PEN** ]

 

Jack is standing outside the dorm chatting Geno’s ear off when Sidney sees them. He had finished his statistics homework and stopped by the Market for a much earned brownie. He did the math. After dinner he can afford to eat two sugar cookies if he burns off enough calories at the gym. The allure of an all you can eat buffett is making him soft.

Sidney has already gained nine pounds. He doesn’t need another crisis and yet, here Geno is.

“I’m not mean what shirt says. Flower says shirt cause misunderstanding.” Geno says as an apology. He’s wearing a well worn Rho Ep shirt, looking so hopeful Sidney can’t walk away. “I’m hoping we can try again.”

Sidney exhales shakily, ignoring Jack watching from inside the building. His roommate thinks he’s being discreet it seems.

Maybe they can make his 8 Steps work after all.

“Okay,” Sidney decides, allowing a few extra seconds to watch Geno sweat it out. “Ask me again.”

Geno laughs. When he leans closer, he effectively blocks Jack from Sidney’s view, although it’s likely not his intent. It’s like he just wants to be closer to Sidney. “Sid, can I have your number?”

They burn the shirt over ice cream.

**Author's Note:**

> -Jack wasn't intended on being Jack Johnson but due to the lack of originality with names, I changed my mind.  
> -I also couldn't decide if I wanted to make the already initiated members of Rho Ep according to Penguins players' real ages or when they joined the team so that's a bit wonky.
> 
> Originally this was going to be just based off the tumblr post: "my favorite college experience is when i had a 7am class and the kid next to me literally poured a monster energy drink into his coffee said “i’m going to die” and drank the whole thing". Then it spiraled into almost 5k words.
> 
> Unbeta'd, only proofread. Comments are lovely!


End file.
